News, commentary, and analysis regarding same-sex marriage, as well as monitoring of anti-gay organizations like the American Family Association and Focus on the Family.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Which solution to support?

My apologies for being away for so long. I became aware of my negligence when I read two Op-Ed pieces in this past Sunday’s New York Times, one directly dealing with the marriage issue and the other tangentially so.

In their joint commentary “A Reconciliation on Gay Marriage,” writers David Blankenhorn and Jonathon Rauch offer a compromise of sorts that seeks to find middle ground in the debate over same-sex marriage. I laud their attempt and regrettably admit that this might be the best solution for the time being. Having said that, I must repeat that any solution that is short of marriage really only weakens the institution of marriage and unnecessarily complicates matters.

In the other Op-Ed piece, William Saletan offers in “This is the Way the Culture Wars End” an argument for same-sex marriage that reflects this conundrum created by civil unions. Although his piece is primarily focused on the abortion debate, at the end he comes out solidly in favor of same-sex marriage.

“Commitment, unlike sexual orientation, is a choice and a virtue,” Saletan writes. “Same-sex marriage binds gay couples to the same ethic of mutual support and sacrifice that Mr. Obama has praised in straight marriages. The cultural imprimatur of marriage makes the gravity of the bond stronger than a civil union or domestic partnership… Let those partners marry. In fact, let’s encourage them to. We shouldn’t just tolerate same-sex marriage. We should promote and favor marriage, regardless of orientation.”

No comments:

Who am I?

Richard Harrold has been a journalist for 20 years and has followed the marriage issue ever since the Baehr v. Miike case out of Hawaii in 1996. He lives in Chicago. He also blogs about Buddhism and wine.